Pizza Schmucks
by ggirl1710
Summary: Larry may think he's a lady charmer, but when The Boys land a job at a family owned pizzeria and meet a bashful gal name Ofelia, he's nothing but a dope hit by Cupid's arrow, receiving feelings he never thought he could feel. *Classic!Stooges* *set sometime in the 30's/The Boys' early years at Columbia Studios*
1. Chapter One

_"Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as think." - Ralph Waldo Emerson _

* * *

**Chapter One**

On the end of a sleepy street in the heart of a usually eventful town with the local library nearby, and a footfall stadium where high school and college graduation ceremonies are held here, and the courthouse there, right next to the police station and city hall, and schools and apartments and other buildings all around with the streets flooded with honking car mobiles and horse carriages neighing, was a pizzeria by the name of 'Familia Pizzeria'. The exterior wall was all red brick built with a white roof that was slanted like the hypotenuse of a right triangle. There was an enormous glass window that read the name of the mini restaurant in large red Zapfino font with the design of a slice of pepperoni pizza with three skinny strands of smoke above the slice. Behind the glass at the bottom was a sign that read Help Wanted.

Standing in front of the pizzeria on the sidewalk stood our hero with his two compadres, all gazing at the outside of place.

No, I don't mean the one with jet black hair with a soup-bowl hairdo. I meant the other one next to him.

No, no, no! I'm not talking about the chubby one either. I'm referring to the last one left to the soup-bowl guy's right.

Yes, the fellow with the half red-brown Afro. He's the one our story shines, um...well, a dying light bulb on.

"Boy, that smart mouth voice in the sky really knows how to step on a guy's feelins.", Curley complained, swooshing a hand in thin air angrily. "Chubby one, eh? Hmm!"

"Quit ya whinnin' and forget about it.", Moe told him, bopping Curley's bald dome with a fist, forcing him to let out an "Oh woo woo!" in pain and rub the aching spot. "Now are we goin' to just stand on the sidewalk and do nothin' but stare at the joint 'til the street lights come on, or are we goin' to make somethin' out of ourselves and get us a job?"

"I say we get ourselves a job.", Larry answered. "Heck, we can make us some dough with the dough." He gave a hearty laugh at his own joke and turned his head left to Moe, who gave a fake chuckle impressive enough to fool the dope before jabbing him in the eyeballs.

Moe then turned to Curley and let a hand fly loose and smacked him across the face. "That's for if you was thinkin' about it too, and was thinkin' of laughin' as well." He got a hold of Curley's right ear in one hand and Larry's left one in the other, then pulling the men along behind him as the three entered the pizzeria.

The inside of the place was larger than what the boys expected by just looking at the outside. There was enough room for five small squared wooden tables covered with red and white checkerboard designed tablecloths for when the customers want to dine in, with each table having four wooden chairs and pepper and cheese shakers next to the napkin bins. There was even room for restrooms for the customers as well, though maybe they only had one or two stalls in each gender assigned room with small sinks. To the Stooges's left was the glass fronted counter with various variety of pizzas and pastas and calzones behind the glass. Behind the counter on the wall was an enormous blackboard with the prices of the food and beverages and the names of some combo meals written in white chalk. Under that blackboard was the soda fountain and plastic cups and trays and plates and the forks and spoons and straws.

The whole place smelled of the aroma of the hot foods being made from the kitchen. Larry, Curley, and Moe took in the smell in a deep sniff, then sighed as they exhaled, having huge grins on their faces. Out of nowhere, a rowdy rumbling noise was heard. "It's a bull stampede!", Curley exclaimed. "Whoop, whoop, whoop!"

"That's no stampede, ya lunkhead. That's ya stomach makin' that sound.", Moe said as he jabbed an index finger in the dope's tummy. "Didn't ya eat any breakfast this mornin'?"

"How could I when we ain't got any?", Curley replied. "We ain't got enough cash to get hot groceries to whip us up a normal meal fit for us."

"He's right.", Larry spoke. "There ain't even enough food in the pantry to feed a mouse. Not even any crumbs to give."

"Which is precisely why we here, ya mugs. Now watch me score us a job.", Moe said.

"Say, if we get hired, we may never need to go out on a lunch break!", Larry said.

"Soitenly! We can woik while we on our lunch break with all the pizzas and spaghetti and calzonies we can eats on! Hahaha!", Curley added in, rubbing his hands together.

"Yeah, and then there'd be nothin' to serve the customers because you two nitwits ate up all the goods." Moe gave a disapproving look and let one hand hit Curley and the other hit Larry. "Now don't get ahead of yaselves. I ain't goin' to let you two chowderheads budge up this opportunity to get us some cash."

"Why's it always us that get the blame?", Larry complained. "When have we ever messed up a job?"

"You want me to show ya how many?", Moe threatened with a tone of voice that sounded like he meant business.

"Yeah, I wanna know.", Larry answered back, trying his best not to look scared of Moe.

"These five fingers represent how many." Moe let his hand fly as he smacked Larry so hard, the hat he wore on his frizzy head fell off. "And here's another five for ya." Before he could give him another wallop, a voice that he didn't recognize came along, and it was an angry one.

_"Stop this brutality at once!" _

Moe turned his head to Curley. "Oh, disguisin' ya voice as a dame and tellin' me what to do, eh?"

"I didn't do it!", Curley protest before Moe could dish out a slap on him. "Honest!"

"Well then if you said nothin', and he," Moe pointed to Larry, who was picking up his hat, "said nothin', and I said nothin', then who-" Moe blinked his eyes and shook his head.

All three turned around behind them and let out screams when they saw a woman that looked like she was in her fifties suddenly now standing behind the front counter with an annoyed frown.

"Jeeps, the joint's haunted!", Curley exclaimed. "Nyah-ah-ah-ah!"

The mysterious woman narrowed her eyes. "Oh, a jokester I suppose?"

Once all three were calm, seeing that the lady was for real, Moe spoke up and reassured her. "Oh, no, no, Miss. It's just that you startled us. When we walked on in here, there wasn't a sign of another body, I mean someone else, in here. You'll have to pardon my pal here. He gets so easily spooked he thinks everywhere we go has goons."

"Soitenly!", Curly added, not knowing what he just agreed to.

"Humph, and I suppose you want me to pardon you for the domestic behavior you showed as well?", the woman sarcastically said to Moe, putting her hands to her sides. "Well forget it!" Now that she spoke a long enough sentence to fully hear her voice, it was revealed that she had an accent that sounded Hispanic. She wore a little red button-up dress that was short-sleeved and went down to her knees. The apron, which had some flour and red sauce spots on it, hugged it's straps around her average sized waist so securely it looked like it was uncomfortable and would leave a line all around the waist once taken off. Her dark-brown hair was very short and wavy that the end of her hair was halfway to the middle of the back of her neck, her stonily staring eyes matching the color. Her skin was light brownish and she had on a vintage-looking necklace that had a small heart resting on her skin. "Now, what is it you three gentlemen want?", she asked with a snooty tone in her voice.

"Well, ya see, Madame.", Moe began. "We're here about the sign at the window." He pointed an index finger at the glass window. "We was wonderin' if we can be hired to work here, Miss."

The woman looked at the back of the Help Wanted sign then sighed rather wearily, shaking her head. "Este tonto debe estar loco!", she muttered under her breath.

Larry leaned in close to Moe. "She's a foreign speaker.", he whispered. "No wonder she's got 'tude."

"Quiet, ya numb-head.", Moe hissed. "Don't ya know ya shouldn't judge someone by how they speak? And whatever language she speaks is none of ya business."

"But whatever she just said should be."

"Well whatever she said, it didn't look too friendly.", Curley added.

The woman sighed heavily again and then fixed her eyes back on the Stooges. "I have only one question for the three of you; are you willing to learn how to cook the food we proudly serve to customers?"

The Stooges looked at each other then back at her, nodding. "Why, yes," Moe began, "but-"

"None of that!", the woman shouted. "I won't ask about your experience because just by taking a good look at all of you three, I could tell you do not have any experience in pizza making, or any experience in making whatever else we serve here. Maybe experience in _eating_, humph. You will learn on the job everything. Now, give me your names and we will start right away."

"I'm Larry, Ma'am.", Larry spoke up.

"I'm Moe."

"And I'm Curley, with a 'ly' sound. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk." Curley clicked his fingers together, did three dabs on his neck, then waved a hand while grinning a cheesy smile. He turned his focus on Moe, who was flashing a mean expression, making Curley give a low "Nyah!" Luckily for him Moe couldn't dish out a smack because the intimidating woman was watching them.

"Very nice.", the lady said. Her voice was calmer now, and the Stooges hoped it would stay that way. "Now, come with me to the kitchen so that I may introduce you to my mother and daughter, and then we will get to work. Now, follow me." She turned to her left and began walking to the back kitchen.

"Oh, a family business.", Moe said.

"Say, maybe that's why the name of this place has that misspelled family word in it. Who knew!", Curley exclaimed.

"It ain't misspelled, ya dunce.", Moe assured him. "That's probably how her culture spells it. Now behave yaselves. We need this job."

It was now Larry's turn to voice his opinion. "Boy, if this is a family owned business, I'd sure hate to see how the rest of her family is just by us meeting that lady, and that's just the women!"

"It don't matter, fuzz-head. It looks like we got the job and we ain't goin' to back out. Now get goin'." Moe pushed Larry to make him start leading the three-men parade to the kitchen as quickly as possible before their new boss started up her rage again.

Larry's heart still wasn't in it to meet the rest of the family based on getting a first impression on their boss. The mother of this broad must be ancient and crabby, maybe even more of a sourpuss than her hot headed daughter. Speaking of daughters, Lord knows how the offspring of this she-devil is. She's probably _everything_ like her mother; bossy and intimidating and snooty, only younger. Young men must not want the pleasure to stand five feet close to her. She's probably got a face that could give blind orphans frights.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two **

The Stooges met up with their lady-in-charge at the entryway of the kitchen. Now that they were finally caught up with her, she had The Boys follow behind her into the workplace to show them around. "Look around and get familiar.", she said. "Take a good look." The kitchen wasn't as large as the front of the pizzeria like the Stooges had the image in their minds, but at least there was enough room to move around as they wandered around observing.

There was this table on the left side that was wide in width where there was already a large sized pizza being made, but there was only the dough in its circular shape sitting on a silver tray awaiting to be dressed with tomato sauce and whatever fine cheeses and toppings was planned for the work-in-progress, and edible, masterpiece. Farther from the naked dough on the table was a single smaller circle of dough with already some sauce only on one half of it. The Boys guessed that it was suppose to be a calzone in the works as well.

Between the under-constructed doughs was all of the ingredients needed. The tomato sauce was in a black pot that was medium in length with a long wooden spoon sitting beside it, already had been dipped and stirred with since it already had tomato sauce on it. Blocks of cheddar and mozzarella cheese with a grader, and beside them was the pepperoni sausage and miniature little balls of ground sausage, and then beside those were the red and green and yellow peppers with even pineapples and bits of uncooked ham joining the social party of toppings.

Straight ahead from The Stooges was this ginormous iron oven where already it was becoming heated more and more as they as such as stood feet away from it, indicating that there were already goods in the oven being cooked to their final touch up. This monstrous sized oven was what was making the whole kitchen room feel like it was a sauna instead of a pizzeria kitchen. The whole area was so warm that the three men had to fan themselves with their own hands, with Larry using his hat as well. Finally moving away from the oven, they carried on with their little tour.

Parallel from the extended table and perpendicular from the oven were several stoves where Moe and Curley and Larry had no doubt in their minds that this is where all of the different pastas and soups are crafted. Already, there were three spots taken by three pots like the one with the tomato sauce just boiling away, steam and the delicious aroma of soup juice rising from each pot.

Of course, what's a kitchen without a sink, and there the large industrial sink was next to the many stoves, with cooking implements either already soaked from a wash and is drying, or is waiting impatiently to be cleansed. The Stooges looked the whole kitchen over just one more time as their eyes roamed the area, taking notice to the white bricked wall and tiled floor that contained cracks, and made one conclusion; it was somewhat cluttered and burning hot, but it was now their workplace and they had to get along with it, whether they liked it or not.

"Now then, " the boss said, "since you looked around, let me introduce you to my mother and daughter." The middle aged woman was now standing beside two other woman that were both different at age. One of them was a very much older than supposably her own daughter and her granddaughter. She had wrinkles and spots on her face, and her glasses sat on the hump of her quite long nose and stayed there without falling. Her pinkish lips appeared ridged with old age, and so did her hands, which looked boney and contained spots as well. At least there were no warts or moles on the ancient female, otherwise she would've looked like a witch on Halloween night.

She didn't look too crabby either as Curley and Moe and Larry thought she was.

This elderly woman was short in height with a plump round figure, wearing a rather dressy black button-up shirt with it's long sleeves rolled up to her elbows and a long gray ruffled skirt that went down to her ankles, her flat shoes matching the dull color. Her hair was a lighter brown than her boss-daughter, with some white lights here and there, and it was dressed in a low bun that had no loose hairs sticking out.

"This is my mother.", the Stooges's boss said. "You may address her as Grandma Alma, as I, myself, am also name Alma."

"So would we address you as Mother Alma?", Larry asked, cracking in a small chuckle.

"_Ms_. Alma would do just fine.", Ms. Alma said sternly, making Larry silent to not get the fire breathing dragon in her aggravated. She turned to the much, much youthful appearing woman, who was standing between her own mother and her grandmother. "And this is Ofelia, my only daughter, and my only child."

Now, this Ofelia character, as The Boys looked her over, was entirely different from their intentions of what she would look like. She was inches taller than her grandmother and about the same height as her mother, who wasn't that tall to begin with either. She appeared to have more of a slightly chubby figure than what they were use to seeing from gorgeous women as they notice she had a stomach poking out under her filthy red sauce spotted apron, but at least she wasn't too pudgy or unhealthy elephantine. She wore a blue shirtwaist dress with only two of its three buttons unbuttoned due to the room being so scorching hot, that went down to her knees like her mother's red dress did. Her dark brown hair was short and curly, but a bit longer than her mother's.

What made her so different that took the three doltish men taken by even farther shock than what they had received from looking at her motherly-looking grandma, who flashed a humane smile when they looked her over, was the vibe Ofelia gave off. Instead of looking bitter and nasty, she seemed to be extremely timid, as her large brown eyes never met with Curley and Moe and Larry's eyes, and she instead looked down at the tiled floor and then to her black shoes. She didn't smile, but she wasn't frowning or giving disapproving looks, and her arms were behind her back.

Her Grandma Alma took notice of her granddaughter's behavior before Ofelia's mother did. "Don't take it to heart, señors.", she said at last, also having an Hispanic accent like her own daughter, but only thicker, so some words came out with weird pronunciations. "She is very shy when meeting new people." She gave another kind smile and put out her hands, shaking the hands of the three men before her. "Bienvenido. Welcome to our restaurant, and congratulations on getting the job."

"Oh-ho, it wasn't all that hard, M'am.", Moe said. "It was surprisingly easy as pie."

"Or should I say, _pizza_ pie.", Larry bantered, cracking himself with laughter. "You know, 'cause we in a pizza joint." The jokester glared all around him, looking for a similar reaction, but all he received were disapproving glares from Moe, Ms. Alma, and even Curley, who was always the one to make jokes just as corny. Then again, maybe his share of the unimpressed expression was because he was going to make the joke first. Looking on, Larry saw that Grandma Alma only gave an awkward grin to try to show pity for him.

Just when Larry felt like a man smaller than himself, he fixed his green eyes on Ofelia.

She was still looking away, her head to the side where only the left side of her face was showing, her hands and arms still behind her back, but there was something that stood out from her that was pulling his eyes in. It was her lips. They were doing all they can to not crack a smile, but try as they may, the corner of her lips began to extend. Then, there was her throat. It moved in and out and strained, showing that she was battling not to laugh.

SHE WAS BATTLING NOT TO LAUGH!

This all made Larry question if his cheesy puns that are so crusty were indeed as laughable as he thought. Did someone, at long last, think he was funny, and not just funny _looking_? Was this young dame, who looked no older than perhaps her early thirties, that one percent of society that enjoyed such a silly joke like that? These questions in his mind, which was as empty as a finished tin can of baked beans, made him grin his own crooked smile, and as Larry continued to gaze at the unaware Ofelia, he felt that grin go from ear to ear.

"Right.", Ms. Alma spoke up after what felt like centuries to Larry in a loud, but serious, voice. She nudged Ofelia so forcefully on the arm with her elbow that Ofelia ended her fight with her sense of humor and mouth an inaudible "Ow", her blushed face turning into an irritated frown. "Now, this is Moe, Larry, and...was it Curly?", Ms. Alma questioned the fellow, sounding confused.

"Sointenly, with an 'e' between the 'Cur' and 'ly'.", Curley answered, chuckling a "Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk".

Ms. Alma gave a "Humph" and carried on. "Yes. As I was saying, these are our new employees that just came in. They must be shown the ropes quickly as possible, as time is money, and money is _living_." She faced the Stooges and had on a stern face. "And I _don't _want anytomfoolery." Then, she glared coldly at Larry. "Especially from you, Mr. Hilarity." With that, Ms. Alma made her way out of the kitchen, shaking her head, muttering, "Pizza pie! No puedo creerlo, ese toñto!" as she walked away.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three **

The customers pulled into 'Familia Pizzeria' the second the clock stroked noon. Famished gentlemen and women and children and even elders stormed the inside of the mini restaurant like a colony of enraged killer bees, impatiently awaiting to get their greedy hands on scrumptious pizza slices while the refreshing taste of Cola-Cola runs down their throats, and afterwards, the people will be so sleepy, hoping that they can be sung to sleep as well to add to the superb hospitality. The business at the front counter was all too much for an individual lady to handle on her own with serving the customers plates one by one, so as soon as Ms. Alma found a minute before any more hungry folk rushed in that she made haste on her feet to the kitchen.

"Mama! Hija! Señors!", she wailed, all panicked as she caught her breathe. "Dios mío, the whole restaurant is even busier than always. I cannot work the counter all by myself! ¡Necesito ayuda!"

Before the baffled Stooges, who were already haven gotten a bit of advice and lessons, but still needing the experience itself, could even ask what the hysterical Ms. Alma had said in Spanish, Ofelia had raised her hand to volunteer. She opened her mouth to speak, but her mother cut her off, taking her daughter's hand and raising it down. "No, no, no, Amor.", she said. "It is all too much excitement for you, and you are not ready for it. Besides, you are very dirty with the powder from the dough on your hands, and I need you here to keep cooking before we run out. Entiendes?"

Ofelia could never disagree with her mother, so she gave a defeated sigh and nod her head.

Within feet from the mother and daughter was Moe pulling Larry and Curley close to himself, and he whispered to them like he had a secret plan. "Now's our chance to prove ourselves to the boss. We gotta help Ms. Alma with the rush hour."

"But we haven't gotten to that lesson yet, Moe. We haven't got any experience workin' at the counter.", Curley said.

"It don't matter, ya' lamebrain. She said we'll learn on the job, and so we'll learn on the job." As the trio broke themselves up, Moe raised his voice to get the attention of the boss. "Ms. Alma, M'am. I volunteer me and-"

"Aye, dios mío, gracias!", Ms. Alma shout, rushing to the three men. She pointed to Moe and Curley and said, "I may only need you two. We must hurry, before the customers go crazy. This is when you will begin." Before Ms. Alma departed with Moe and Curley, she glared at Larry. "What you can do for now is get to work on your first day cooking in the kitchen, and you must pay attention to whatever my mother or daughter instruct you it do. You are to do nothing else, understood?"

"Eh...I mean, yes! Yes, M'am! Yes, yes!", Larry answered, doing the first thing that came to his mind and doing a salute like he was a soldier in the army saluting his general, slowly regretting the idiotic gesture. He made a second mistake by turning his head left to Moe, who gave him his own "At ease", which was a slap on the side of the face, mumbling "Why you" under grit teeth.

"That is enough.", Ms. Alma spoke. "Like I said, we must hurry." She grabbed Moe by one ear and Curley by the other and she dragged them along with her out of the kitchen, with Curley saying to Moe that this is what it feels like when he drags him and Larry by the ear, getting a slap as well, followed by a roaring "I said, that is enough!" from Ms. Alma.

Larry didn't know where to start, and he just stood where he was, looking like a robot moving its head left to right repeatedly. This was until he felt a sudden hand on his shoulder, and he let out startled scream as he turned around to see Grandma Alma, smiling gently up at him, and he sighed with relief. Being Larry, and not knowing what else to do when an elderly gentlewoman gives you a humane smile, he smiled back, only his was a fake one because he felt like it was the right thing to do. This didn't even last long as he felt awkward, so he stopped. "What're we smilin' for, Granny?"

"Are you ready for your first day in la cocina?", Grandma Alma asked him, marrying the English and Spanish language together.

"In...what exactly?", Larry catechized.

"Oh, excuse me. I am aware that you and your friends are not Spanish speakers, am I wrong?"

"Heh, you ain't too far from the truth, Granny.", Larry answered. "O-oh, I meant to call you Grandma Alma. I'm so sorry, M'am."

"Ah, there is no need to apologize, my friend.", Grandma Alma replied, patting him on the shoulder of which she touched him moments ago. "You are welcomed to call me whatever you may like. Just as long as it is appropriate, now.", she said, giving a laugh to lighten the nervous Larry's mood.

"Yes, of course."

"Now then, back to speaking about your first day. Why don't you begin with something small?"

"Small?"

"Beginner's level."

Larry took a gander of the kitchen once again, eyeing for the "beginner's level" perfect for him. He looked at the colossal sultry oven, and instantly shook his head. "I ain't goin' to burn up on the first day.", he said to himself. Larry, then, looked to his right to glare at the stoves, hesitated, then waved a hand. "Nah."

"Then," Grandma Alma began, "may I suggest, my good friend, assisting my granddaughter with making the pizzas?"

This had Larry thinking. This could be the door of Opprotunity unlocking and making way for him to practice some skills. He may absolutely be learning on the job like Moe and Ms. Alma said. "Well, I've always wanted to make pizzas, and not just eat 'em."

"Ah, wonderful! She will teach you everything, and she will tell you what is to do." The cheerful grandmother gave Larry a gentle shove to get him on his way to the station parallel from him, and he took to notice that Grandma Alma had made a minor grammar error when she said that Ofelia will tell him what is there to be done to help.

Then again, he had reminded himself that the ancient woman had a thick accent and can speak fluently in another language; her cultural language.

When Larry had made it to the station where Ofelia was in the middle of constructing another King size pizza he gave the young woman a delighted greeting, being the cheery type, second to Curley's first and beating out Moe's third place, when meeting new folks. Ofelia, per contra, returned the greeting with only a slight nod, silence, and still no eye contact. Larry would've found this to be bizarre behavior, but he instead shook it off and proceeded on.

"Your granny said I could help you here with whatever you're doin', so here I am."

Again, Ofelia answered back with a nod.

"So, what're my assignments, boss?", Larry asked, throwing in some humor. He had remembered that is was she who was laughing at his pizza pie joke earlier, and even though it wasn't much of a guffaw, Ofelia had expressed a change of emotion as she went from being timid to having a sense of humor. Larry wanted that transformation to come alive a second time.

Alas, Ofelia was not trapping any sign of laughter this time. She, however, and to Larry's notice, had put a halt to her task of making a pizza and was twiddling her fingers. Larry gazed at her expressionless face, and he breathed out heavily. "You know," he started to say in a low consolatory voice, "I get it that you're unsocial and all, but you don't have to be givin' me no emotion. I'm a good guy, you can see. Or, I should say, you _would_ if only you would say something back to me."

As if that were an insult to her, Ofelia turned her head away from Larry. He sighed as he realized that he was conquered. Larry was all too use to being treated with such a manner by society when he's done nothing but be friendly. "I see how it is.", Larry murmered. "I'll just be on my way. I'm sorry I bothered ya'." As he turned to leave Ofelia, he muttered, "I just wanted to make you laugh again."

Larry wasn't aware of it, but after he had delivered that last line Ofelia turned her head the other direction to where Larry previously was. She processed everything he said to her, and she realized that she had made a mistake of not answering back to Larry's friendly gesture.

"Wait."

Larry heared this, the abrupt and subdued voice that came from behind him, and he turned around, looking back at Ofelia. "W-what was that?", he asked.

"Wait, I said.", Ofelia spoke with more volume. She turned her body gradually towards Larry to the point that he can see her whole figure again, including her face. "I-I'm sorry. You were being nice to me, and I was disrespectful." Her head began to move up to where Larry can see her face clearly. Then, her eyes met with his at last. "I'm sorry.", Ofelia apologized again.

Larry could finally read the emotion that she was expressing on her face, and it was guilt. Now that he can fully see her, fully _meet_ her, it pained Larry to see her overcome with grief. "You don't have to apologize to me, but all is forgiven anyhow."

"Do you still want to help me with the pizzas?"

"Are you askin'?"

"W-well, yes, I'm asking."

Larry grinned lightheartedly at Ofelia, and he walked back to the pizza station and stood right in front of her. "Then, I'm helpin'.", he told her in his usual spirited tonality with his usual spirited smile. "Now then, I'm goin' to ask you this again. What're my assignments, boss?"

"Well," Ofelia began, "since it's your first day, you can help me with the toppings. After all, I would never give you any complex jobs to do already."

"Aww, how generous of you.", Larry teased. "But what if I like a challenge on the first day?"

"Then maybe you would've volunteered to accompany my mother.", Ofelia backfired as she went back to preparing the dough for it's essential shape. She handed Larry the topping ingredients and a kitchen knife, telling him to cut them into small pieces except for the pepperoni sausages, and for those to have skinny slices.

"Well now, that sure is a nice thing to say about your own mother.", Larry giggled. "I have to say, she does seem overbearing." As it appeared that the two of them were now on the right path to socializing, Larry began to fulfill what he was given to do and cut the toppings, starting with the red peppers.

"That's just her way. You'll get use to it."

"No need to. My pal Moe's got the same way too."

"Really now?"

"Yes, really. He's the most ambitious one of the three of us, and that sourpuss cat will get his point across with just the stroke of a hand, and he don't take applesauce too lightly either."

Ofelia stopped her work again, and turned to Larry, gazing up at the stooge. "Is that why he hit you earlier?"

"Uh huh." Larry didn't think anything about her question and carried on cutting the vegetables merrily. It was until his eyes glanced to their right, noticing that Ofelia had stopped and was looking directly at him. Larry stopped too, and he made his green eyes meet with her chocolate-brown ones. He could now gaze into them up close, seeing the light and life sparkle in them as she stared up at Larry. They almost took his breath away as Larry focused on them so much that every sound around the man and woman vanished, and his mind went silent. He's never seen such eyes so brown like rich chocolate and so gleaming...

My, what lovely eyes she has,Larry thought to himself.

"Excuse me.", Ofelia had said, pulling Larry back into reality.

"O-oh, I'm sorry.", Larry gently apologized. "W-what were you sayin'?"

"I was _asking _you of why you seem so okay with your friend hitting you."

Remembering that he was talking about Moe earlier, Larry shrugged. "Well, I really ain't with it, but like I said before, he's got the same way as your mother."

"Sir, I'll have you know that my mother would _never_ lay a finger on me like that!", Ofelia argued.

"I didn't say she would, and please, call me Larry. I'm sayin' that Moe is just as serious about everything like your mother is."

"Hmm, true.", Ofelia agreed when she calmed down. "After all, both of them didn't take too kindly to the little joke you made. You know, the one about pizza pies."

"You did, however. I saw ya' tryin' to not laugh, and tryin' not to smile as well."

"That was because your little attempt of being funny was stupid.", Ofelia remarked. Then, she grinned a conceited a smirk. Even though she was being a wise gal with him, Larry found her grin to be quite adorable, seeing dimples appear at the edges of her smile.

"I bet you like stupid people being funny.", Larry backfired. "Don't be wise with me. I know you loved my joke."

At this, Ofelia crossed her arms, still keeping up her subtle ego. "Even if I do fancy ignorant people being funny, and if I did enjoy your joke, what's it to you?"

"You've got a nice sense of humor at least, unlike most people who just brush ya' off like dust on clothes. That's what it is to me." Larry grinned just as cocky as she did, and he raised a brow that just itself said "I win."

"Are you saying that my mother doesn't have a sense of humor, Mr. Larry?", Ofelia quizzed. "Or your friend up there with her?"

Just when Larry felt like he was the man of the world, his pride was shattered just like that. His grin came down to a line and his brow lowered. He was quiet for a moment, reminiscing about how he would just want to be comical with normal people and make everybody laugh and lighten their mood with a witty joke, but would just be ignored instead, like a fly being shooed away. "It ain't just Moe and your mother.", he said finally. He turned back to the table and proceeded cutting the red pepper in front of him.

By just observing his body language, Ofelia understood what he meant by that. "I see.", she said so quietly. She, too, went back to work on the naked dough in front of her. She didn't mean to struck a nerve. Ofelia glanced at Larry, seeing his somber expression. "Larry."

"What?", he muttered.

Ofelia exhaled a breath of air, knowing that she was going too far with what she was about to do. She stopped working for a moment once again, and she embraced Larry all around with her arms. This made Larry pause, and he turned his bushed head to her, where their eyes met a third time. Ofelia smiled at him. "I do fancy ignorant people being funny, and I did love your joke."

Larry smiled just as tenderly. "I know."

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**A/N: Reviews are welcome anytime. Please let me know what you guys think.**


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